Time Warp

[CharlieB]

More like a nightmare lol

Aside from my family, I'm not a fan of "today's world", but I'm happy to be alive in any case

"They say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known" - Billy Joel, Summer Highland Falls

 

[rue]

"They say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known" - Billy Joel, Summer Highland Falls

Billy Joel can be quite the genius

 

[Old Rogue]

I guess one of the advantages of getting older is that you have actual memories of times that are well past. I have fairly vivid memories of the late 60's, which is not too much past what most of us think of as the end of the golden age. I don't know that the late 60's were necessarily better than now, but it certainly was a very different world.

 

[Foofoogal]

http://www.grandhotel.com/
Somewhere in Time. I loved that movie. It has been one of my top desires to stay about 3 days/nights in this place before I die. That and seeing New England states in the Fall.
----------
Ok, maybe I would take my 4th of July outfit and sashay around this place
http://www.grandhotel.com/aboutgrandhotel/our-story
Oh my. How I would love to do a "Flirtation Walk" in my outfit.

 

[Widebrim]

I guess one of the advantages of getting older is that you have actual memories of times that are well past. I have fairly vivid memories of the late 60's, which is not too much past what most of us think of as the end of the golden age. I don't know that the late 60's were necessarily better than now, but it certainly was a very different world.

There was a lot of tension at that time between many young people and adults, particularly regarding music, drug-use, clothing styles, long hair, politics, etc., but what else is new? (I can remember at the time thinking that long hair on guys would never end.) Minorities in the Los Angeles area, at least, still faced a lot of discrimination; I don't recall seeing any Blacks or East Asians when I went to places like Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Jungleland, etc. (Believe me, having grown up in a 99.9% White town, I would have noticed.) It seemed that there were Hippies everywhere, and there were frequent love-ins, even in Griffith Park (I was there for one). I remember when the movie rating system was initiated (about 1968), brought on by the evenual acceptance of films such as I Am Curious (Yellow), and how that changed our movie-going habits. But the Vietnam War, and the rallies for/against it really dominated the times, images of the war often appearing on the news, and I recall thinking that in a few years I might be on my way there. Despite all the above, not everything was negative, and some of the values/traditions of the Golden Age were still with us. Enough reminiscing...

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I think that most people you talk to about those eras sees them as the best, because they were a good time in their life, often childhood, simpler times kind of mindset. My dad always talks about how great the 1960s were, but you ask my Grandpa, the 1930s were. Although, I know this isn't always true. I never lived in the 50s but would say those were the best times.

 

[MissMittens]

I think that most people you talk to about those eras sees them as the best, because they were a good time in their life, often childhood, simpler times kind of mindset. My dad always talks about how great the 1960s were, but you ask my Grandpa, the 1930s were. Although, I know this isn't always true. I never lived in the 50s but would say those were the best times.

So, that raises a good question - why do we prefer other times than our own?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I've pondered that very question many times. My mother claims I'm an old soul, as I've enjoyed ties, nice clothes, etc since I could walk and talk. I think it's a lot of influence. My favorite people in my childhood were my Great-Grandpa, my Grandpa, and my Dad. Gramps and Grandpa both hat wearers, Gramps always wore ties, etc. My dad and grandpa are always talking about how great the past was. And to top it all off, I love antiques and vintage and my family is very conservative in an old-fashioned sort of way. So, I was raised with a very old-school way of thought. That's my excuse, what's yours? Haha.

 

[rue]

So, that raises a good question - why do we prefer other times than our own?

Well, for the most part, people knew their neighbors and helped each other. Families were closer and ate meals together. People, for the most part, had manners and knew how to act and dress. While not everyone could, it was normal for mom to stay home to take care of the house, the kids and cook meals, while dad went off to work. Kids didn't have all the distractions they do now and played outside until dark using their imaginations. People connected through mail and in person rather through FB and email.

I know that this wasn't the case for everyone and I know it wasn't an episode of Leave it to Beaver on a daily basis, but it wasn't strange like it is now. In fact, I basically just described how we live our life with the exception of the last part (we use computers obviously, although I still write letters). People think we are very very odd and my kids have been questioned all their lives about what I do all day. Well, this house doesn't clean itself and my family has a hot meal everyday made by me, but gee I have no idea I'm not saying that I don't have any free time, but usually I'm doing several things at once and by the time my husband walks in the door everything is done, dinner is almost ready and I have time to ask how his day was and tell him about mine.

So for me, it's a time where I would fit in better and not be the neighborhood freak.

 

[martinsantos]

Very good question!

About me. I like the style, the culture, the daily way. I came inside 30s and 40s by movies, photography, music. When became adult, then I started to look around another things. More human contact than we can find today. The ways to individuality in clothes, etc - not something so massive. And "massive" looks to me as a very important word nowadays...

I don't know if "my 30s/40s" are the real ones. Maybe yes, maybe not. Anyway, I have no chance to get back in time - so the best I can do is to take with me what I think is important. And this have place ever to some modern things - like to have a chance to write here!

So, that raises a good question - why do we prefer other times than our own?

 

[Old Rogue]

All of the posters since my previous post in this thread have made some very good points. My hometown was a typical small late 60's southern town (population about 800). Very different in many ways from, say, Widebrim's hometown of LA. My parents very rarely locked the doors when we left home. If anything was missing when you returned you knew that a neighbor had just borrowed it and it would show back up in a day or so. I'm guessing that probably wasn't the case in LA, even back in the 60's. But other things were the same. We had a few hippies, drug use was something of a problem, and there was discrimination against minorities. And, of course, the Vietnam war was a subject of great concern and widely varying opinions running largely along generational lines. But I do remember those times fondly, and in my memories they were very good times. Maybe it was due to the fact that we put a man on the moon, or maybe it was just the magic of youth, but it seemed to my ten year old mind that absolutely anything was possible. Whatever the reason, I sincerely hope my children will look back on their childhood the same way when they're my age.

 

[Widebrim]

But I do remember those times fondly, and in my memories they were very good times. Maybe it was due to the fact that we put a man on the moon, or maybe it was just the magic of youth, but it seemed to my ten year old mind that absolutely anything was possible. Whatever the reason, I sincerely hope my children will look back on their childhood the same way when they're my age.

I hope they will, too, HR. Generally speaking, we do look back with fondness on our childhood. Considering how our culture seems to be de-evolving in some ways, though, I wonder for how long such fondness will be a part of such memories. Sure, since the dawn of civilization there has almost always been economic spiral, war, and political unrest, and people have gotten through it all.(One wonders how common folk really felt during such periods as the Napoleonic Wars and the Industrial Revolution.) Yet when morals/values/traditions go through their own paradigm shifts, especially in the span of just a few years, there is then the potential for people and society to really start falling apart.

 

[The Ringneck]

I always liked the old timers around home here. In one sentence they'd tell you how you would have never survived the horrors that was the pre WWII era, and then the next time you saw them be lamenting how things were so much more wonderful back then...... My Dad, born in 1934 is the same way, the other day he was complaining about crime rates when I pointed out murder has been decreasing since 1991, and in the mid 40's two men were shotgunned (while passed out) in front of his house. Selective memory we have about childhood!

 

[Insp. Bumstead]

That's a really great story. I would love to walk into an old-school police station, with wood panel office dividers, frosted glass interior windows, typewriters clacking, rotary phones jangling, and detectives smoking at their desks.

Or, when traveling by train, I'd like to pass from the ugly modern railroad car into a sleeper coach from the 1930s.

 

[slc]

This is a very interesting thread. Many of us are interested in life in the past and recreate some of it in our current-day lives. Many people who know me and my family comment how we are stuck in the past. They're right when it comes to our taste in music, books, and clothes. They also notice our behavior and comment on how we are polite and considerate of other people, especially the elderly.

No doubt the past was full of it's own problems. We look back longingly at the style of the Golden Era, but I don't read much about the everyday problems and struggles they faced. It reminds me of the best episode of "The Twilight Zone" ever: "A Stop at Willoughby". You can read the synopsis here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Stop_at_Willoughby. Better yet, watch it here before you read the ending:http://www.cbs.com/classics/the_twilight_zone/video/?pid=XaeZeN2XCm7NbkcmxRFqvZ9DIpGj3Lln

 

[The Ringneck]

As to time capsules I have ran into one that was so unbelieveable I almost chalk it up to Twilight Zone. I had to get my dyslexia confirmed by an official test so I went to a doctors office in a building with other government medical stuff. This is about 2000/2001 I sat out in the hallway/waiting room until called in. When you walked in it was an office and I was told by the security guard to wait here, the doctor will be right back.

So as I'm sitting I'm noticing suddenly everythign was from the 70's. Down to the stuff on his desk like tape dispenser and pens/pencils. His shelves had binders (of professional journals) that STOPPED AT 1981!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean EVERYTHING was period. Then the doctor enters---he's in his 50's but has a 70's shag, beard, and is wearing a polyester 3 piece suit, wide ties and eye glasses.

It did not end there. We went into teh testing room and he had all 1970's teaching/testing stuff---and I know what that looks like as my mom was a special-ed teacher and our garage was full of that crap.

People ask me, jokingly, if I did go through a time portal and what he thoguht about futuristic me. I laugh because my normal look is Jerry Reed circa 1978 so unless he would have opened my wallet and looked at my driver's license he would have never suspected a thing.

Thinking about it I had one other instance like that, but nowhere near as over the top. Outside Orlando me and a buddy were driving through a neighborhood where most of the buildings still had their 1970's signs and awnings. We stopped at a motel for directions, I went in. As soon as I went in I had to stop, turn around and confirm my buddy was still back out there and I wouldn't be greeted by a 1975 street scene. The carpet was some 70's high-traffic carpet still, black with big circles, one each in four colors. The wall had one of those back-lit shadow box maps showing Florida with far fewer interstates than now exist, all furniture was period and the clerk (in modern clohthes) was watching a tiny black and white TV that probably aired news about Watergate at one time.

I know there are lots of remnants of 70's stuff but it's so rare to see something that still has unchanged carpet, or personal items.

BradLaGrange

 

[The Ringneck]

Oh yeah, to the person who earlier mentioned going to visit a 40's airbase---Might not be a good idea, I'm sure someone with no ID, no record of birth in the US or other documentation would have been of extreme interest around a secure military instilation during war-time, lol.

BradLaGrange

 

[John in Covina]

Maybe it was due to the fact that we put a man on the moon, or maybe it was just the magic of youth, but it seemed to my ten year old mind that absolutely anything was possible.

This speaks to the passion and direct thinking of youth.

(It is an exploitable thing that youth can be convinced of so much by impassioned speaking. It is why "revolutionary fervor" is always highest with late high schoolers and those in college.)

 

[Widebrim]

This speaks to the passion and direct thinking of youth.

(It is an exploitable thing that youth can be convinced of so much by impassioned speaking. It is why "revolutionary fervor" is always highest with late high schoolers and those in college.)

Very much so, and explains in part what happened here in the US in the late '60s/early '70s. Yet impassioned speaking can also affect somewhat "older" people if it is coupled with a shared experience (e.g., the effect of Mussolini's Fascist rhetoric on WWI vets in the early 1920s).

 

[Old Rogue]

I had something of a time warp experience that occurred in the late 70's. It late 1977 or early 1978, I was a freshman photography major in college. A standing assignment was to document the culture of rural northeastern North Carolina in photographs. A classmate and I were riding through the countryside and came upon a typical small North Carolina town. We split up and started meeting people, hoping to strike up a rapport with some likely photographic subjects. I walked into a gas station on the main street of the town and was immediately transported back to the 1950s. An older gentleman ran the station. He was not your typical "grease monkey", but very neatly dressed. The store was somewhat dark inside, lit by a single bare incandescent bulb hanging from the ceiling and whatever light made its way in through the front windows. In the center of the store was an old pot-bellied wood stove. The owner refused to allow me to photograph him sitting near the stove -- he was petrified that people would see the picture and think him lazy. Instead, he allowed me to photograph him working at his desk and pumping gas at the 50's style pumps in front of his station. Naturally, he put on a pair of work gloves to pump the gas! I'm not sure if I still have any of those photos, but I'll take a look in the attic and if I can find them I'll post a few in here.